Food cooking device



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 R. SARDES ON R O T N E V m ATTORNEY FOOD COOKING DEVICE Filed April 15, 1941 NM: III I I H IIII \M II I III J I 5 Q W W u 1 I II I I F W k 1 m I m T 7, a #111, i wkh III: N

Dec. 14, 1943.

Dec. 14, 1943. R s s 2,336,640

FOOD COOKING DEVICE Filed April 15, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Dec. 14, 1943. R. SARDESON 2,336,640

FOOD COOKING DEVICE Filed April 15, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 14, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2.33am

FOOD cooxme nirvrca Robert Sardeson, Minneapolis, Minn, anllnor to Harold C. Genter, Miami Beach, Fla.

Application April 15, 1941, Serial No. 388,593 1 13Claims.

This invention relates to food cooking devices, such as electric toasters, and has for its general object the improvement of such devices as examplified in my pending application Serial No. 289,905, filed August 12, 1939. In that application there is illustrated and described a toaster or the automatic or so-called pop-up type in which vertically movable bread racks ar manuall moved from an elevated, idle position into a. lower, active position in which bread slices carried by the racks are in toasting relation to heating elements which are energized coincidently with the movement of the bread racks, and in which the racks are spring-returned to their elevated position and the heating elements de-energlzed upon the release of appropriate latch mechanism by means of a thermally responsive control itself set into action, and de-energized, respectively, coincidently with the downward and upward movements of the bread racks.

One of the objects of this invention is the improvement of the manually-operated means for controlling the device, to the end of aiIordins better control thereby over the automatic elements and their operation; a further object is to render the manually-operated means more certain in action with the less regard for the care or otherwise with which the device is manipulated; and still another object is to provide for the convenient and ready termination of the automatic operation of the device at any time without regard to the position of the automatic elements and with a minimum of wear and tear on the parts.

Another object of the invention is to improve and simplifythe Physical connection between the'manually-operated means and the bread racks, to the end of providing a more effective and at the same time less expensive construction than heretofore.

Other objects and features of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

While of advantage in other relations the invention is particularly useful in connection with, and is therefore illustrated as applied to, the toaster structure of the said application; and only so much oi the latter is described herein as is necessary to an understanding of the present invention.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the preferred construction, Fig. l. is a vertical section of a toaster having the invention ap plied; Figs. 2 and 3 are sections on the lines 2-2 and 8-3, respectivelm oi Fig. 1; Figs. e and 5 are large scale perspective views to show details and Fi s. 6 and 7 are views of portions of the control mechanism in different stages of operation.

As shown in Fig. 1, the over-all housing of the toaster. generally designated I, is divided into two compartments by a vertical wall 2, the larger compartment containing suitable heating elements and constituting the oven portion 01 the device, and the smaller compartment containing the control mechanism.

The control mechanism is supported on a sheet metal frame 3 secured at its lower end to wall 2 by bolt I (Fig. 2) and having upstanding, spaced track bars 5 the upper ends of which are located in slots in a bracket 8 also secured to wall 2. Flanged rollers l engaging the edges of track bars 5 are mounted upon and serve to guide the upward and downward movements 01 a carriage, shown particularly in Fig. 4, consisting of a plate generally designated 8 to which is riveted an oven or bread rack support 8 having laterally proiecting ears l0. 'l-h'e lower part of plate 8, in the form of an actuating arm it, extends out through a slot 62 in the toaster housing and on its outer end carries a handle it by which the mounted edgewise, i. c. with its major crosssectional dimension vertical, reduces to a minimum the size of the slots required to be made in wall 2; and, while ensuring effective guiding for.

the racks as they are lowered and raised, the construction is such as to minimize the likelihood of such quantities ofcrumbs passing from the oven into the control compartment as would interiere with the operation of the mechanism contained therein.

Heretofore some dimculty has been experienced in securing such a connection between the bread racks and their supporting carriage as will en,-

slots 2| (Fig. 1) in the enlarged, flat ends I! of the racks, the slots fitting theears su-illciently closely (and, if deemed necessary, cut slightly out of the vertical) to prevent the racks from sagging substantially out of the horizontal, but nevertheless providing a sliding flt on the ears. This arrangement not only reduces assembly costs and difficulties but also, since the racks are free to move laterally in relation to the supporting ears, permits the racks to ride in their guide slots 23 without binding even if'the carriage movement, for any reason, is not precisely parallel to the ide slots 20.

The carriage 8 is normally held in, and as below described is restored to, its upper, idle position by a spring 22 (for convenience termed the carriage spring) the upper end of which is anchored on bracket 6 and the lower end of which is anchored to the carriage. In this preferred construction a latch member generally designated 23 (for convenience termed the carriage latch) is pivotally mounted at 24 on a laterally projecting ear 25 of the carriage, and itself has a forwardly projecting ear 2G to which the lower end of carriage spring 22 is anchored. The latter thus serves normally to hold the carriage in its elevated position (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) and at the same time resiliently to hold carriage latch 23 in the position shown.

The handle i3 is moved down tolower the bread racks into toasting position and coincidently cause the heating elements to be energized, as will be understood; and while in the usual course the carriage is latched in this position and released automatically upon'the termination of the toasting period, special provision is made to permit the carriage to be manually released and restored to its idle position independently of the functioning of the automatic control. The manual release is adaptable to a variety of constructions but for convenience is shown in conjunction with the type of automatic control shown in the said pending application, being of particular advantage in that connection. In the present instance the means for holding the carriage in its lower, toasting position, shown in Figs. 4 and 6, comprises an intermediate pivoted latch 21 having at one end a shoulder 28 adapted to overlie the toe 23 of carriage latch 23 and, at its other end, adapted to seat on the shoulder 30 of a third or main latch 3! which is pivotally mounted at 32 (Figs. 2 and 6) on the frame 3. As long as the latches occupy the position shown, the carriage is held against upward movement under the influence of its spring 22.

The manual release for the carriagecomprlses a member mounted on and with freedom for limited movement with respect to the carriage, such as a lever 33 pivotally mounted on the carriage at 34, the inner end of the lever passing through a cut out in the carriage latch 23 and having a beveled surface 35 engaging a similar surface 33 at the top of the said latch cut out; so that when the inner end of release lever 33 is raised the interaction of the surfaces 35,. 36 moves the carriage latch 23 to the right (Fig. 6) about its pivot 2t and disengages the toe 23 of the latch from shoulder 23 of the intermediate latch 21, freeing the carriage for upward movement under the influence of its spring 22.

As shown in Fig. 1, the outer end of release lever 33 is arranged to project out of the toaster housing through the same slot i2 through which projects the carriage handle arm ll, so that no additional opening in the housing is required to render the release lever accessible from outside the housing. In this form the release lever is also located in close proximity to and just above the handle arm H so that a flngerpiece 31 mounted on the outer end of release lever 33 can be located just above the handle l3. As shown, the flngerpiece seats in a recess 33 formed in the center of the handle. The construction is thus such that the carriage is released from its lower, latched position'by simply pressing downwardly on flngerpiece 31.

The carriage spring is necessarily relatively strong and any such release as that described is necessarily quick acting, with the result that, unless the upward movement of the carriage is restrained or cushioned, the impact of the engagement of the carriage with bracket 6 is apt to be noisy and also sufliciently violent as to subject the parts to undesirable strains; but when the main and release handles are located so that they may be engaged simultaneous by one hand, the operator can readily cushion the shock of the upward movement of the carriage. In the preferred form illustrated, the fingers of the operator are of necessity substantially in contact with or at least in the path of movement of handle l3 as the fingerpiece 31 is depressed, so that they serve, without premeditation by the operator, to cushion the upward movement of the released carriage.

As will be understood, the function of the automatic control mechanism is to move the upper end of main latch 3| to the left (as viewed in Fig. 6) at the conclusion of successive toasting periods, so that, as shown in Fig. 7 (which illustrates the position of the parts at the instant of release) the shoulder 30 is drawn from under the end of intermediate latch 21, permitting the latter to be moved about its pivot by the upward thrust of toe 23 of carriage latch 23 under the influence of carriage spring 22 and the carriage thereby freed to return to its upper, idle position. In brief, this control mechanism, which is the subject of and is described in detail in the said implication, is constructed and operates as folows:

A pinion, consisting of a plate 33 having a sector extension provided with teeth 33 is mounted for pivotal movement about a stud 40 secured to the mechanism frame 3, the pinion being biased to rotate in a clockwise direction by a spring M of which the upper end is attached to bracket 3 and the lower end to a stud 42 projecting from the pinion 33. Movement of the pinion about its pivot is cushioned by a dash pot l3 and piston 44, the latter connected to the pinion by rod 45. As shown in'Figs. 6 and '7, a stud 43 projecting from the face of the pinion is so positioned as to engage and actuate main latch 3|, as above described and as shown in Fig. 7, as the pinion approaches the limit of its clockwise movement.

Mounted on and spaced from the pinion is a ratchet 41 and, below it, a pawl 43 which is pivasses-m 7 toward the left from the position shown in Fig. 6 but are restrained by the engagement pawl 48 with ratchet 41.

Directly beneath that portion of the bi-metal strip upon which the tall 53 of pawl 48 rests there is located a suitable heater 56, diagram matically indicated in Fig. 3, the heat 0! which produces a more or less localized upward deflection of the adjacent portion of the bl-metal. This deflection, raising the tall 53 of pawl 48 and disengaging the pawl from the first (left hand) tooth of ratchet 41, permits spring 4! to rotate pinion 38 and the teeth 39 of the latter to ad-'- vance the bi-metal until the adjacent relatively flat, unheated portion thereof lowers the pawl tailpiece 53 and engages the pawl with the second tooth oi ratchet ll. This movement-of the bimetal, resultingirom the heating of successive portions of it, continues until, when the pawl has 7 been disengaged from the last ratchet tooth,

pinion 38 is rotated by spring 4! to the position limit of its movement, the interlock comes into play. carriage then strikes the tailpiece 82 of the interlockmember and the extension 8| of the interlock exerts an upward thrust on stud 5| and thereby holds pawl 48 against Jumping out of engagement with ratchet 41. As soon as pressure on handle it is-released, spring 22 raises the carriage slightly to the position shown in Fig. 6, disengaging the carriage from the interlock member and leaving pawl 48 free to operate in the manner already described.

The circuit wiring, being conventional, is not illustrated. It requires simply that the ovenheating elements and the bi-metal heater 56 be incorporated in a-circuit' capable of being enerthe carriage, preferably under the control of a -contaot arcing. A preferred form of switchof Fig. 7 in which stud 46 releases the carriage latch mechanism as above described.

Pivotally mounted on stud so about which pinion 38 rotates is a boomerang-shaped reset cam 51 having a recess 58 (Fig. 6) in which the main latch actuating stud 46 is adapted to seat when pinion 38 is at the limitof its clockwise movement. The lower edge or cam surface of the reset cam 51 rides on a roller 59 mounted on the is more powerful than spring M and the latter is,

carriage by handle l3 will cause roller '3 to engage the stated portion of frame 3, which serves as a stop. By a heavy handed, too vigorous depression of the handle and engagement of roller and stop, it is possible in extreme cases so to jar the whole toaster as to cause pawl 48 to jump free of ratchet ll, and to the end of making the device as foolproof as possible provision is made against that contingency. Such provision consists of a special lock, normally inactive but becoming effective at or about the lower limit-of travel of the carriage to prevent disengagement of any part of the latch mechanism and particularly, in this instance, of the pawl and ratchet.

As shown particularly in Figs. 5, 6 and '7 there is provided an interloil'. member generally designated 60, pivotally moi. tted alongside pawl 48 on stud 69, with an extensi n 6! apertured to loosely embrace stud 5i and a spring tailpiece 62 extending into the path of the lower end 63 of carriage 8. As above stated, when the carriage is manually depressed in the ordinary manner it reaches its latching position (Fig. 6) before reaching the end of its stroke. However, if the carriage is slammed down in such a way as to carry it to the gized and tie-energized, respectively, colncldently with the downward and upward'movements of suitable toggle or snap-action switch, to "avoid actuating mechanism-especially suited to control such a circuit is illustrated in Fig. 2.

Pivotally mounted on a stud 6% on frame 8 is I a switch actuator, generally designated 55, having a short, lower arm 66, a longer, upper arm 5?, and a stop portion 68 on the other side of its pivot to engage the adjacent car 69 of frame 8 to limit the counter-clockwise movement of the actuator. Pivotally mounted on the same stud 64 is an inverted L-shaped switch member, of Bakelite or other insulating material, the arm 10 of which, in the illustrated open position of the switch, backs against the same stop ear 69 of the frame and at its lower end carries a pair of loosely mounted bridging contact-s ll The other arm I2 of the switch member is engaged by a toggle spring l3 seated on the ear M of actuator 65. As will be understood, clockwise movement of the actuator carries the toggle spring across a dead center position so that it then snaps arm 72 of the switch member upwards and brings contacts-ll into bridging relation to fixed contacts it to complete the said circuit. The locations of the arms 66 and iii of the actuatorare such that they are engaged, respectively, on the downward and upward movements of the carriage to close and open the switch. When handle 88 is moved downward the lower edge it of handle arm i i strikes the upper edge of actuator arm 6t to rotate it clockwise and close the switch in the manner described. On the upward movement of the carriage, whether manually or automatically released, the upper edge TI of the carriage (Figs. 1 and 4) strikes the lower edge of actuator arm 6'5 to rotate it counter-clockwise and open the switch.

' The following is claimed:

1. In a food cooking device, the combination with a housing, having a slot therein, of two manually operable members projecting through the said slot, and means within the housing responsive to manual operation of one of said members to efiect movement of the other member.

2. In a food cooking device, the combination with a housing, having a slot therein, of two manually operable members projecting through the said slot, handles on said members located for simultaneous engagement by one hand, and means within thehousing responsive to manual operation of one of said members to effect movement of the other member.

3. In a food cooking device, the combination with a housing, having a slot therein, of two members within the housing mounted one upon Aswill be seen, the lower end 83 of the 3 movement with respect to the first control means.

5. Ina food cooking device of the kind including a housing, a movable 100d support therein and manually operable control means therefor extending outthrough a slot in said housing; an

auxiliary externally accessible control member for said support, such control member'being, plyotally mounted on said control means. V

6. In a food cooking device of the kind including a ,movable food support,manuallyoperable control means therefor movable from anupper,

I idle position to a lower, active position, a spring for raising said support and control'means, and a latch for restraining the action of said spring: a latch release member mounted for movement with said control means and also relatively there;

to to release said latch.

7. In a food cooking device of the kind adapted for manual setting to initiate a cooking period and automatic control to terminate such period, including a control handle mounted for manual movement from an upper, idle position to a lower, active position, a spring adapted to restore said handle to its upper position, and a latch for restraining the action 01 said spring: an auxiliary handle mounted above and in the path of movement of said control handle, and latch release means adapted for actuation by said auxiliary handle.

assaeao and automatic control to terminate such period, including a control handle mounted for manual movement from an upper, idle position to a lower, active position, a spring adapted to restore said handle to its upper position and a latch for restraining the action of said spring: an auxiliary handle-mounted immediately adjacent the control handle and movable both with and relatively to the same, and latch release means adapted for actuation by said auxiliary handle.

10. In a food cooking device of the kind adapted for manual setting to initiate a cooking period and automatic control to terminate such period, including a control handle mounted for manual movement from an'upper, idle position to a lower, active position, a spring adapted to restore said handle. to its upper position, and latch means for restraining the action'of said spring: an interlock mechanism for blocking the release of said latch means, said mechanism located for actuation 'by the control handle adjacent the lower end of its path. of ,movement.

11'. The construction "claimed in claim 10 in whichthe Iatch'means includes a ratchet and a pawl,"and inwhich said interlock mechansm includes a'member associated with said pawl for 8. In a food cooking device of the kind adapted for manual setting to initiate a cooking period and automatic control to terminate such period, including a control handle mounted for manual movement from an upper, idle position to a lower, active position, a spring adapted to restore said handle to its upper position and a latch for restraining the action of said spring: an auxiliary handle mounted adjacentand in the line of movement of said control member and;

latch release means adapted for actuation by said flat end having a substantially vertical slot therethrough, a support for the rack in such compartment including a portion extending through and substantially fl tting the slot in the end of the bread rack to support the same with freedom for relative movement between the support'and the rack laterally of the slot in said wall.

said auxiliary handle upon -movement thereof 13. An automatic'toaster of the kind including a housing, a wall dividing the same into an oven compartment and Ta contro'l' compartment, said wall having a narrowvertical slot therein: characterized by the provision of a bread rack in the oven compartmenthaving an end portion protruding through said .'slot. into the control compartment, movable means in such compartment having" a rack supporting portion, one 01 said portions beingslott'edfto rceivethe' other withfreedom for relative movementflbetween them late'rally 01 the slot in said wall.

ROBERT SARDESON. 

